Chinese V30'S vs UK made for Mesa V30'S

[Rex_Rocker]

Um well im not sure ? Lots of ambiguity going on here.

Ive never noticed a speaker sounding different based on impedance.

A cab or amp perhaps.

Who's to say what someone elses ears sound like to them w/o being wired to them ?

They are indeed different. It has been stated by many people and there are many tests.

They show it in the video at the beninning of the thread.

And Jensen's speaker designer mentions it here:

But you're absolutely right. Everyone hears it differently. And it's extremely rare to hear 16 ohm vs 8 ohm speakers compared inside the same cab.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Who's to say what someone elses ears sound like to them w/o being wired to them ?

V30's have been on a sh*t-ton of recorded music and can sound pretty good if you can wait around 15 years for them to break in.

100% agreed. Plenty of iconic records using either Marshall's take on the V30 or Mesa Recto cabs. Or ENGL. Or Bogner. Or many others.

 

[TOJB]

I could have sworn I heard him say they were from 2006 and 2008(the Mesa V30's) of course I could be wrong I will watch again.

I used Mesa speakers from 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2018 and 2020 in that test. Sadly I had no speakers from 2005 to 2007.

 

[NegativeEase]

V30's have been on a sh*t-ton of recorded music and can sound pretty good if you can wait around 15 years for them to break in.

So I think that might be taken into account on the latest V30 design... essentially Celestion is producing a smoother speaker out of the box if you compare a 2019 and 2021 (I have both) -so maybe they are trying to lessen that break in and age everyone is looking for. And the 2021s sound closer to most of the older 90s and early 2000s speakers to me than the later ones -meaning possibly the later 2000s and 2010s may not have aged enough yet.

I cant say for sure if this is an accident or by design, but judging they changed the design its probably likely the 2021 are better for a reason

Which is awesome, because it shows an awareness

 

[TOJB]

$170 or a V30?!

I don't know if V30's are still Chinese-made, but I do know they moved production recently from China to UK of a lot of other speakers that used to be MIC. I have a pair of newer RI Greenbacks (not the Heritages) that are UK-made and that actually sound brighter (and overall better) than the other pair of Chinese GB's I have in my cab.

I bought six new V30 speakers this year. They were made between August 2021 and December 2022 and were all made in China. Occasionally you'll find a "regular" Vintage 30 (T3903 and T3904) made in the UK post 2002. I have seen ones from 2007 and I have one from 2016.I don't know what the deal is with those. Maybe the UK plant helps out when demand is high or something but generally speaking the bulk of V30s seems to still be made in China.

 

[TOJB]

So I think that might be taken into account on the latest V30 design... essentially Celestion is producing a smoother speaker out of the box if you compare a 2019 and 2021 (I have both) -so maybe they are trying to lessen that break in and age everyone is looking for. And the 2021s sound closer to most of the older 90s and early 2000s speakers to me than the later ones -meaning possibly the later 2000s and 2010s may not have aged enough yet.

I cant say for sure if this is an accident or by design, but judging they changed the design its probably likely the 2021 are better for a reason

Which is awesome, because it shows an awareness

It's likely that Celestion did nothing to the speaker. I believe the material composition of the cones that Kurt Müller are making for Celestion is different at the moment due to the nature of the medium. They are made of cellulose, so paper essentially. Maybe they are sourcing their material from somewhere else or from a different supplier at the moment

 

[Mikelamury]

I used Mesa speakers from 2001, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2018 and 2020 in that test. Sadly I had no speakers from 2005 to 2007.

Oh wow, I didn't realize that was you that was doing the comparison in the video. You seen to have studied this more than anyone I know so what's your opinion of the difference between newer made in UK For Mesa V30's and newer Chinese V30'S?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I bought six new V30 speakers this year. They were made between August 2021 and December 2022 and were all made in China. Occasionally you'll find a "regular" Vintage 30 (T3903 and T3904) made in the UK post 2002. I have seen ones from 2007 and I have one from 2016.I don't know what the deal is with those. Maybe the UK plant helps out when demand is high or something but generally speaking the bulk of V30s seems to still be made in China.

Maybe it was a temporary solution during Covid? Or maybe V30's didn't get brought back to UK because they need to make A LOT more V30's to satisfy demmand than Greenbacks?

 

[JMP/HBE]

Something about the older UK versions just saying.

 

[TOJB]

Oh wow, I didn't realize that was you that was doing the comparison in the video. You seen to have studied this more than anyone I know so what's your opinion of the difference between newer made in UK For Mesa V30's and newer Chinese V30'S?

Yes, I am that hairless lunatic :haha:
Honestly, from reamping and scoping close to 60 of these things in the meantime, I cannot say there is a distinctive difference between regular Chines and UK made Mesa or Marshall V30s. If they were made during the same period, sometimes the Mesa will sound smoother, sometimes the Marshall will sound smoother and sometimes your off the shelf V30 will sound smoother. There is a lot of variance in the high end. The production tolerances appear to be high in that spectrum. I assume that those paramaters are very hard to control in the production of a paper cone. I believe the reason why Mesa may have gotten their own OEM version ot T product code in the first place is that Mesa appear to receive their speakers without labels attached from Celestion. Mesa appear to put the labels on after installing the speakers so the writing on the labels is always level. Take a look at any Mesa OEM V30. The terminals will always be either at a 90° orientation to the label or a 45° or 135° orientation.
It seems the composition of the cone is the biggest factor in the variance we hear in speakers with the same impedance. As they are made of paper pulp, organic fibres, there will inevitably be differences and I believe speakers from certain eras sound different to others just for this reason. In the meantime I don't believe Celestion ever really changed the design of the speaker. Just certain eras had cones that sounded smoother and other eras had cones that sounded brighter and it seems like we have recently entered a new era where the cones are similar to the way they were in the early 2000s.
So to answer your question, I don't think it matters if you are buying new. It doesn't matter if it was made in China or in the UK, nor does it matter if it was made for retail, Mesa or Marshall. They'll all sound the same within a certain tolerance band. It's luck of the draw and personal preference here.

 

[JMP/HBE]

A scope doesn't have a hammer / Anvil or Stirrup.

 

[TOJB]

No... but the microphone and interface before it has a diaphraghm, conductive coil and 48 kHz sample rate, similar to the signal chain used to record almost every relevant V30 guitar tone out there

 

[NegativeEase]

It's likely that Celestion did nothing to the speaker. I believe the material composition of the cones that Kurt Müller are making for Celestion is different at the moment due to the nature of the medium. They are made of cellulose, so paper essentially. Maybe they are sourcing their material from somewhere else or from a different supplier at the moment

Maybe, I think Celestion would consider the impact of the composition of the cone as a critical piece -I mean imagine how many psychotic calls, emails and visits they get from people mad about literally nothing scientific or even pure conjecture or fantasy -they are dealing in the dark arts and black magic........ So I'd to think they are considering all of the material's impact.

But hey, maybe not